There are two types of hype. The more commonly known hype is the extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion when used in marketing terms. For me, hype is that billowing of excitement that comes deep from within. It is the fuel that guides me and all of us towards a purchase in this medium. Hype is that faith you put into a product you have never touched yet find yourself defending it blindly. The idea and feeling of hype is a good thing, but if you allow it to run wild and choose to bring your hype levels to immeasurable heights you need to ask yourself, “Was it the marketing, or was it me?”

I am a firm believer in giving into the hype. I am not saying to lose your sense of logic and let your expectations run amok. More so I mean to just allow yourself to be excited about the things that speak to you. Being skeptical and negative all the time is physically draining. I know it is because I used to be that person. When you just pick apart marketing, assume the worst, and build up negative views, you are setting yourself up for a cycle of hate that will bleed well over into the game’s launch. You are giving into skepticism not to hype. Now no matter what the score is or buzz is, you’ve already made up your mind to hate the game.

On the flip side, if you just give into the excitement, you experience a very positive marketing cycle that will build a confident expectations all the way up to launch. That excitement is important. The buzz you spread by talking about your enthusiastic views to friends and others online builds a community of hype. This is a positive thing when dozens if not hundreds of people in your online circle are expressing their enjoyment for a game to come. Trust me when I say that people feel better when they are excited, not skeptical.

By no means am I saying that over-hyping things are okay. You have to practice a bit of restraint as well as remain logical about what exactly it is you’re excited for. By assuming something will be the greatest game of all time, you are setting yourself up for failure. Just reword your internal feelings and expectations to fit more along the lines of, “I cannot wait to experience this game for myself.” These are just suggestions; I have no dominion over how you express yourself. However, these tips may just put you in the correct mind space to have your expectations met.

There are so many examples I can give either personally or just from the industry itself. Being a student of the gaming industry for over 25 years now, I have seen many games rise and fall thanks to customer hype levels. Success is made or broken depending on the market the developers and production companies, but also on how the customers are responding to their product. One thing to always keep in mind is that marketing is created to trick you, to lie to you. The idea of marketing is to convince the consumer that they need this product even if deep down the product isn’t really for them. This does not exist in a vacuum, this is how marketing works across all products and mediums.

As a consumer you must speak the language of marketing so you don’t get fooled into buying something that ultimately just does not resonate with you. Nobody but you knows what you like. To fall victim to marketing speak that oversells an item is on the consumer, not the developer. Sure they should not weave lies and manipulate their product to seem like something else, but it is also on you to inform yourself.

There are plenty of games journalist, reviewers, videos, and ways to get the information you need to build a case for your excitement. Plenty of people have gotten their hands on this product that isn’t trying to sell it. Align yourself with somebody in the industry who previews games and trust that they are telling the truth by reviewing their body of work. Always make sure the blame is pointed towards the right party. If you are the “best game of all time,” guy then you have foregone your ability to put the blame on the developer. You said it was going to be the best, not them.

Recently I suffered from overhype. The Metal Gear Solid series has always been my favorite thing to exist in the history of ever. So of course when The Phantom Pain was announced, I was over the moon. We were slowly dip fed information for over 3 years as each trailer push me more and more towards immeasurable levels of hype. When the game came out, and the Kojima/Konami controversy happened, I was still blinded by my own excitement. I never thought in a million years that the game would not deliver for me on a personal level. While the gameplay was the best the series ever had, the game was far from a Metal Gear experience in terms of narrative and characters. The story was hollow, and for the most part not even present. It still ended up being my game of the year because I was objectively able to see that there was a great playing game within the coding of this mess of a story, but the way I hyped this game up for myself will haunt me. Would I have loved this game if I had just ignored the marketing and my pure love for the series? Sure the game was cut short in development, and pieces of it were obviously missing, but if I had not had the expectations I set for myself, would I have just enjoyed the game for what it was? This is how hype can turn on you.

Allow me to give a different example though; one that is more on the macro instead of my personal micro. Almost a month ago a little game called No Man’s Sky was launched. Now, I followed this marketing very closely over the last 2 or 3 years. A lot of things were said by creator Sean Murray, but at no point do I ever feel that he outright lied about the project. When talking about a game made by a small team that was announced years before it actually launched, you have to take things said early on in development with a grain of salt. Not every idea makes it into every game. Look at every Fable game for an example of that. Does that excuse the developer? No of course not; they should be as truthful as possible about their product but again remember, marketing is meant to trick you into purchasing a thing you didn’t even know you wanted. The whole world lost their minds when No Man’s Sky came out and it wasn’t the Second Life in space that everybody assumed it would be.

As somebody who did follow the marketing, and who was extraordinarily hyped for this game, I ended up getting the game I wanted and thought it would be. My question is how did so many other people assume that it was something else? It is simple…it’s the hype machine taking control. This is the self-manufactured excitement that you yourself allowed to achieve. In this case I think there was a mixture of poor communication from the developers as well as people allowing their expectations to run rampant. I still play and enjoy this game to this day and am getting everything I ever wanted out of it even with my extreme levels of excitement that I allowed myself to get to. Deep down I knew this was more of an indie project, created by a small team, with randomly generated properties that would make the experience different from person to person. I managed my hype, followed the marketing, and kept a healthy level of skepticism. It paid off with immense enjoyment of the game which many cannot claim.

You are the controller of your own hype, so when things don’t meet your expectations try looking internally instead of lashing out at the developers or taking it personally. These are video games people, they are a great hobby and great escapism but never warrant outrage that turns into death threats to developers. I seriously suggest seeking help if you are the type that jumps to death threats every time something does not meet your expectations. I don’t care if the threat is hyperbolic or not. Gamers get a bad rap for being overly opinionated, self-entitled, and generally just rude to one another; especially with the anonymity of the internet.

Be the example by just owning up to yourself when you have overhyped a game, but at the same time don’t fear to give in to your own excitement. It takes much more energy to be skeptical about something than it does to be hopeful about something. Plus it is just generally better to seek out that positivity rather than dwell in the negativity. You just have to ensure that you are self-managing the hype machine and not allowing it to take over your ability to remain grounded and logical about the incoming product. Mastery over hype ensures for a healthier and more gratifying gaming experience. There is an art to marketing and the road to a game’s launch, and I implore you all to be mindful about the information that is out there while all at the same time, surrendering to the hype.